Park Hill Community Market, an open-air cultural marketplace of vendors selling foodstuffs, clothes, and other items, operates out of a repurposed parking lot, creatively transforming lives and space at Park Hill Apartments on Staten Island’s North Shore.
Under the banner of Creative Transformations: Arts, Culture and Public Housing Communities, Naturally Occurring Cultural Districts-New York (NOCD-NY) has supported a partnership between Staten Island Arts Folklife and Napela Inc to reinforce the ongoing Park Hill Community Market. In addition to enhancing the physical infrastructure of the Market with a gifting of new tents for the vendors, and support for the Market’s annual culminating cultural festival, Creative Transformations produced a 12-page case study voicing some of the insight and experience of the women who make the Market happen, thanks to Adama Fassah, Napela’s Executive Director.
Emphasizing the same comprehensive goals as its parent organization Napela, the Park Hill Community Market builds off the holistic pillars of: adult education and English language literacy, small business development, U.S. citizenship, health and safety, and culture. The Market case study sets forth lessons learned with regard to space, community resources, operating structure, partnerships, vitality, health, cultural engagement, knowledge, livelihood, and entrepreneurial savvy. The story of how the Park Hill Community Market came to be, the value that it adds to its community, and how it sustains itself, provides an invaluable model for similar initiatives in public housing across New York City. Participation in citywide partnerships is helping the Market to work through ongoing challenges and share expertise with other partners. Read the full case study here.
NOCD-NY brings together a unique alliance of artists, neighborhood leaders, activists, creative manufacturers and policymakers that are committed to revitalizing New York City from the neighborhood up. Napela Inc. is a non-profit comprised of West African and other immigrant and refugee women who are committed to English language aptitude, improving knowledge around U.S. citizenship, cultural empowerment, and entrepreneurship.
Staten Island Arts Folklife celebrates the ingenuity, cultural knowledge, and creative practices of Staten Islanders, collaborating over the years with Park Hill’s heritage bearers and community members on projects such as “Folktales from our Mothers” and the “Cultural Feedback Project.”
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